In the past, hotels and motels have provided their customers with warm towels after, for example, showers or baths. For at least this purpose, hotels and motels have installed towel warmers for their customers. Now residences are being equipped with towel warmers, since residents also enjoy warmed towels.
Over the years, towel warming devices have been developed utilizing a variety of different warming techniques. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,309 to Cayley teaches an electric towel warmer having a conventional electrical heating element that is M-shaped and mounted to a frame within a housing. The conventional heating element radiates heat to an aluminum cover plate that has holes therethrough. When a towel is placed within Cayley's housing and over the aluminum plate, the conventional heating element provides heat through the holes in the cover plate to heat the towel.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,100 to Miller provides an article warmer having a conventional electrical coil heater that is mounted to a base having a reservoir, which contains a fluid. The fluid, such as oil, is heated by the conventional electrical coil heater and pumped through a hollow frame of vertical risers that are also mounted to the base. When a towel is placed inside of an enclosure that covers the hollow frame, and onto the hollow frame, heat is conveyed to the towel to heat the towel.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,462 to Huff teaches a fabric article drying rack comprising an elongated tube having an interior chamber, which houses conventional electrical heating coils that heat the air within the interior chamber, and a fan that expels the heated air outwardly through a plurality of slots. The warm air exits the slots and flows over those parts of fabric articles that are exposed below the holes, thus heating the fabric by convection.
Also, European Patent EP 1 030 130 A1 to Jacquemin et al. provides a glass towel drying radiator that is hung on a wall. Jacquemin's radiator comprises a tempered glass front panel that radiates heat forward toward portions of towels that are hung on towel racks, which protrude from the front panel in the forward direction. Since cloth is not a good conductor of heat, only those portions of the towels that are in the direct line of irradiation from the glass are heated, thus most parts of the towels go unheated.
Although the above-mentioned cloth heaters do provide means to heat cloths, the heating means utilized are indirect and inefficient, may be somewhat complicated to use, in some cases require an enclosure, may require continuous high voltage, require much time to get the cloth to a heated condition, do not provide adequate temperature controls, do not heat large portions of a cloth, are costly, require a large footprint, pose a potential for burns and fire, require pumps and fluids that are noisy and potentially dangerous, require exposed electrical cords that are unsightly and may be dangerous, and whose overall appearance may not be aesthetically pleasing. As a result, there is a need to more directly, safely, efficiently, easily, completely, economically, and aesthetically provide heated towels.
Thus, those skilled in the art continue to seek a solution to the problem of how to provide a better cloth heater, and a method for heating cloth.